Q: Dave,The flowers on my chiles—jalapeño, serrano, habanero—and tomatoes seem to die and fall off. What could cause this ? I water every other day . –Gary A: Hello Gary:Most often, flower drop is due to high temperatures, particularly at night. Sometimes over-fertilizing is the problem. Try watering every day and don’t fertilize for a while.–Dave
Heatless Jalapeños
Q: Hi Dave,I have been a "hot lover" for years and have had the chance to try many different foods and spices as I traveled the world for the U.S. Navy. I have recently decided to grow my own but have run into a problem. I am growing jalapeños, habaneros, and serranos. All of the jalapeños I have picked are …
Tabascos Dropping Dead
Q: Dear Dave,Twice now, I’ve had Tabasco plants in 5-gallon buckets that just dropped dead on me right when they started to make pods. I’ve grown Tabascos in large buckets for years now with great success, and now this. First, they appeared to be too wet (I do have drain holes in the buckets), so I let them dry out. …
Curly Top Virus?
Q: Hi Dave, I am encountering a dilemma in my chile patch. Some of my plants are developing some kind of leaf curl. They all have flower pods bunching up at the top of the plant, which is inhibiting new leaf growth, and the plants seem stunted. I rotate my crops every year from bed to bed. I am not …
Plant Vigor
Q: Hello Dave:I started growing chile pepper plants about a month ago now. Most of them seem to be doing quite well except for my Red Savina and Hawaiian sweet-hots. I know these have long growing seasons, but are they slow starters?–Michael A: Hello Michael:The rate of growth of chiles varies widely among varieties and individual plants. This is called …